Ducati Monster Forum

So... I was trying to gain some mad skillz in the motorcycle repair... but alas, the only class I could find was a small engine thing at PCC that was like 20 days of 5 hours per day. I just can't see doing that and working at the same time. Puke. Anybody know of anywhere to gain some mad skillz?

Buy a project bike. Build at least part of the motor.

+1

How much is tuition for the small engine class?  Couple hundy?  You can find an old CB/CL for under 500 that needs an engine rebuild, and parts are readily available on fleabay.

Freshman year of high school I rebuilt a lawn mower engine.  All the basic parts are right there!

Legos! (http://incolor.inebraska.com/elassley_bie/lego/LegoEnginePage.htm) ;D

I'll sell ya a CB400 for $200... :)

So here's a thought.  My bike is due for a full service: TPS reset, TB synch, valve adjustment, air filter, fuel filter, belt swap, spark plugs, etc.  I do all this work myself and I'll probably do this sometime over the cold months (Jan, Feb).  Once the weather warms up and I get a few miles on it to stretch the new belts I'll also probably set the cam timing.  I can schedule this for a couple of weekends and anyone who wants can come on over, watch, ask questions, poke at the greasy bits yourself, and see it all first hand.  Any interest?  If there's a large group interested then I may want to borrow someone's garage, mine is a small one car unit and a little cramped.

Scott

I'd be up for it.

I've got a 2 car garage.  With a little organizing we could probably get 4 bikes in it at once for a "maintenance" day or a bunch of us with beer to stand around and watch over your shoulder.

Thanks for the offer Chuck!  Your garage may be just the place. 

Maybe we can do both.  I was planning on a full service watch and learn, start to finish.  I'd like to do that to cover everything once.  I'd be happy to have a maintenance day for lots of folks too.  I'm also happy to lend anyone a hand and loan the use of my VDSTS software to anyone whose bike it will hook up to.  Should fit most 5.9 ECUs with no O2 sensor.  Maybe we can do them two days back to back, Saturday/Sunday thing. 

I'm also planning on swapping out the springs and oil in my forks and adding an adjustable link in the rear if anyone wants in on that. 

And yes, beer!

Scott

i would be up for watching some maintenance being performed.  I would like to learn how to do the services on my M695 but i am a bit apprehensive to tear right into it.  Also i want to change out my sprocket for a 14T someday too. 

i need the gasket on my vert cylandir replaced....  ;D

That's about a 20 -30 min job, no problem. [thumbsup]

Maybe we could cover it all in one day and do some maintenance.  Let me go through what I plan to do and see how long I think it will take.

Cylinder gasket, not a trivial job.  We'd need some extra time for that.  You've got to pull the exhaust, the head, and then slide the cylinder off.  Not sure if you can do this with the engine in the frame.  Does anyone know for sure?

Scott

I have a shop manual for the M800.

Looks like there's enough room in-frame if you pull the tank, battery/box, and disconnect intake and exhaust pipes. Don't ask me how you get those head nuts retorqued, though. There must be a service tool.

That's what there may not be room for.  Ducati makes an expensive tool shaped like a C that curves around the edge of the head to grab the head nut.  The inexpensive tool is an extension that you attach to your torque wrench but needs a little room to work.  It can also be made from a wrench with a socket welded to it.

Here:
http://www.bevelheaven.com/stuff-for-sale-headnut-wrench.htm (http://www.bevelheaven.com/stuff-for-sale-headnut-wrench.htm)
 
And here:
http://motoreva.com/item.cfm?itemid=103&categoryid=171 (http://motoreva.com/item.cfm?itemid=103&categoryid=171)

Scott

Which reminds me...

Salty, get one of these puppies and see if your head nuts are torqued to spec.  If not, torque them up and see if that gets rid of your leak.

Scott